I’d made a mess of Danny’s early days. Now it was time to repair the damage.
The rain scald started to heal. I learnt to brush ever so gently – or not at all! I had the farrier visit. Marcus had been my farrier since our early horse days with Quill. He had done an excellent job with him – and Quill’s hooves improved so much over the time we had him. He had also been trimming Ducati’s hooves – and now Danny had his first trim with Marcus. Magnum of course always stayed a safe distance away.
Danny’s hooves were full of seedy toe – an infection in the hoof – and the hooves in general were in poor health. They started to improve after a few trims. Danny always struggled with the trimming – and Marcus was always very patient. Despite the difficulty Danny had with hoof trimming, all the horses liked to hang around Marcus – even Magnum didn’t run away completely. How I wished that one day he would be able to do Magnum’s hooves.
Next was dental care! Oliver runs EVDS and has a passion for horses – and in particular dentistry! He designed a great portable crush for his mobile dentistry work and works long hours travelling throughout the district. He was able to confirm that Danny was indeed only five – and on a positive note – had a great mouth!!!
Now Danny had had his physical needs looked after, I wondered how to address his emotional needs. He was certainly improving. He was more content – much happier to come to me and enjoying the contact. But there were things I was noticing – he wasn’t ‘in sync’. I would observe him in the paddock – Magnum and Ducati would turn one way to graze – and then another – following each others patterns. Danny never did that – and he often wasn’t aware of his surroundings. The other two would be up waiting for their feed – and Danny would still be in the bottom paddock – or he would suddenly realise he was alone and start running and calling. It was lucky he didn’t live in the wild!
I took both Danny and Ducati to a clinic given by Mel Fleming – once again at beautiful Orara Valley House. The horses appeared to enjoy their time there. I rode Danny – and two friends shared Ducati for the sessions. Ducati was the perfect horse. He did everything that was asked of him. Danny was all over the place. I was riding him in a rope halter but it was impossible for him to register what I wanted him to do. Still, it was great to be out riding!
However, I watched the ease at which the two friends rode Ducati. He was trialling a Balance Saddle which Mel also fits and sells. It certainly was agreeing with him. I was struggling with Danny who seemed oblivious to me being on his back.
Over the winter months I rugged Ducati – and I also rugged Danny for a couple of winters – not because he was cold – but because he seemed to like that attention. The process of being rugged obviously appealed to him. Maybe it was a little bit of extra ‘mothering’. I wanted him to feel special. I was still making it up to him for the early days.
I had still been feeding and tending to them at the top of the hill near our house. That was about to change!!
COMING UP – THERE’S SOMETHING ABOUT DANNY!
IF YOU ARE NEW TO THIS STORY, PLEASE START HERE AT THE BEGINNING – Part 1 – An Introduction
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